Project description:Anthropogenic pollution has increased the levels of heavy metals in the environment. Bacterial populations continue to thrive in highly polluted environments and bacteria must have mechanisms to counter heavy metal stress. We chose to examine the response of the environmentally-relevant organism Pseudomonas aeruginosa to two different copper treatments. A short, 45 min exposure to copper was done in the Cu shock treatment to examine the immediate transcriptional profile to Cu stress. The Cu adapted treatment was designed to view the transcriptional profile of cells that were actively growing in the presence of Cu. Experiment Overall Design: We analyzed 2 biological replicates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa exposed to a 45 min Cu shock as compared to a control that was exposed to HCl to bring the pH to similar levels. We analyzed 2 biological replicates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa that were grown in the presence of Cu for approx. 6h (Cu adapted) as compared to an untreated control.
Project description:Anthropogenic pollution has increased the levels of heavy metals in the environment. Bacterial populations continue to thrive in highly polluted environments and bacteria must have mechanisms to counter heavy metal stress. We chose to examine the response of the environmentally-relevant organism Pseudomonas aeruginosa to two different copper treatments. A short, 45 min exposure to copper was done in the Cu shock treatment to examine the immediate transcriptional profile to Cu stress. The Cu adapted treatment was designed to view the transcriptional profile of cells that were actively growing in the presence of Cu. Keywords: stress response
Project description:Iron and copper are important environmental nutrients for plant growth. However, the molecular mechanisms of both iron and copper signaling that integrate the two pathways remain poorly understood. The Arabidopsis thaliana high affinity copper transporter COPT5, is a tonoplast localized permease involved in copper remobilization. Here, a global expression microarray analysis of the copt5 mutant points out the induction of iron deficiency responses, including NATURAL RESISTANCE-ASSOCIATED MACROPHAGE PROTEIN 4 (NRAMP4), a tonoplast-localized iron transporter. The copper requirement in iron perception and uptake from the media becomes more evident in the double nramp3nramp4 mutant, unable to remobilize iron from vacuoles, that is highly sensitive to copper deficiency. Furthermore, COPT5 expression is altered under iron deficiency and the copt5 mutant is sensitive to iron deficiency and is unable to perceive iron in the media under copper deficiency. Noteworthy, iron deficiency post-transcriptionally restraints the copper-dependent superoxide dismutase protein levels and the subsequent activity. As a consequence of its increased iron deficiency responses, the copt5 mutant present lower levels of both copper- and iron-dependent superoxide dismutase activities. Moreover, the copt5 mutant mobilizes faster its iron storage pools and presents higher levels of iron in cotyledons and seeds. These results underline the importance of internal metal pools in the understanding of copper and iron deficiency responses and their crosstalk that are critical for governing proper plant development in response to combined metal scarcities in soils.
Project description:The effect of the heavy metal copper on the expression of a wide spectrum of genes was analyzed by using a DNA microarray. Gene expression profile of baker’s yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae grown in a media containing sub-lethal concentration of cupric sulfate was compared with those of yeast grown in a normal media. Among about 6200 ORFs of yeast, 143 ORFs were induced more than two-fold to resist against copper toxicity after exposure to copper. As was expected, FRE1, FRE7, and CTR1, genes controlled by Mac1p, were strongly down-regulated. Copper metallothionein CUP1-1 and CUP1-2 were induced more than 20-fold. Some genes related to sulfur metabolism and oxidative stress response were also up-regulated. This DNA microarray technology indicated that plasma membrane, cell wall, protein, and DNA, were molecular targets of copper toxicity. Keywords: stress response
Project description:To identify genes which are differentially expressed in Corynebacterium glutamicum in the absence of copper, we performed DNA microarray analyses of cells cultivated under copper starvation conditions compared to copper sufficiency.
Project description:Analysis of leaves of wild-type and jasmonate (JA)-deficeint mutant cpm2 treated with CuCl2. Results provide the role of JA on defence responses after copper chloride treatment.
Project description:Copper-limiting growth conditions were thought to cause an induction of genes possibly involved in copper uptake and sorting. This rationale in mind, we performed microarray analyses on B. japonicum cells grown in three variations of the BVM minimal medium. Variant 1 contained 2 μM CuSO4 (copper excess). Variant 2 was prepared in HCl-treated glassware without any copper added (copper starvation). The residual copper concentration in this copper-starvation medium was analyzed by GF-AAS and determined to be 5 nM. Variant 3 (extreme copper limitation) was prepared like variant 2 but with the addition of 10 μM BCS and 1 mM ascorbic acid where BCS chelates Cu(I) selectively, and ascorbic acid reduces any Cu(II) to Cu(I). Changes in the transcription profiles were recorded by the pairwise comparison of cells grown in variant 2 vs. 1, and variant 3 vs. 2. Only a small set of genes were differentially up- or down-regulated when copper-starved cells were compared with cells grown in copper excess. Most notably, five genes located adjacent to each other on the B. japonicum genome displayed an increased expression: bll4882 to bll4878. The five genes were named pcuA, pcuB, pcuC, pcuD, and pcuE (mnemonic of proteins for Cu trafficking). The genes with decreased expression are either of unknown function or – not surprisingly – play a role in copper resistance. Extreme copper limitation (variant 3 vs. 2) did not further enhance the expression of the five pcu genes. Instead, another cluster of adjacent genes was strongly up-regulated: bll0889 to bll0883, which code for unidentified transport functions. Incidentally, the list also includes the copper chaperone ScoI. Taken together, copper-limiting growth conditions have led to the de-repression of genes potentially involved in copper acquisition.
Project description:Copper and iron are essential micronutrients for most living organisms because they participate as cofactors in biological processes including respiration, photosynthesis and oxidative stress protection. In many eukaryotic organisms, including yeast and mammals, copper and iron homeostases are highly interconnected; however such interdependence is not well established in higher plants. Here we propose that COPT2, a high-affinity copper transport protein, functions under copper and iron deficiencies in Arabidopsis thaliana. COPT2 is a plasma membrane protein that functions in copper acquisition and distribution. Characterization of the COPT2 expression pattern indicates a synergic response to copper and iron limitation in roots. We have characterized a knockout of COPT2, copt2-1, that leads to increased resistance to simultaneous copper and iron deficiencies, measured as reduced leaf chlorosis and improved maintenance of the photosynthetic apparatus. We propose that COPT2 expression could play a dual role under Fe deficiency. First, COPT2 participates in the attenuation of copper deficiency responses driven by iron limitation maybe aimed to minimize further iron consume. On the other hand, global expression analyses of copt2-1 mutants versus wild type Arabidopsis plants indicate that low phosphate responses are increased in copt2-1 plants. In this sense, COPT2 function under Fe deficiency counteracts low phosphate responses. These results open up new biotechnological approaches to fight iron deficiency in crops.
Project description:As an essential micronutrient element in organisms, copper controls a host of fundamental cellular functions. Recently, copper-dependent cell growth and proliferation have been defined as "cuproplasia". Conversely, “cuproptosis” represents copper-dependent cell death, a nonapoptotic manner. So far, a series of copper ionophores have been developed to kill cancer cells. However, the biological response mechanism of copper uptake still lacks systematic analysis. Based on quantitative proteomics, we explored the feasibility of curcumin as anticancer copper ionophore. The copper ionophore curcumin can control the metabolisms of lipids, RNA, NADH and NADPH in colorectal cancer cells, and also up-regulates positive cuproptosis mediators. This work discolored the suppression and acceleration of cuproptosis by GSH and curcumin, respectively. Our results are significative for understanding cuproptosis process and developing novel anticancer reagents based on cuproptosis.